Views of the world from a tiny island

InSantaTy: or it’s all a mythtery

I wrote earlier today on the magic of belief in Santa Claus, the gift to the imagination that shiny bit of tinsel can hang on children before they reach the age when flying reindeer and fat men squeezing their bulk down chimneys to leave bikes and dolls no longer makes any sense and they face the realization that Mom and Dad are bigger benefactors than they’d figured.

We consider the progression to be in the natural order of things; hopeful frivolity gives way to information, knowledge, to familiarization with the way things really are. Also learned in time is a sense of history that serves to put traditions in context, to illuminate how one thing led to another to another and eventually to St. Nicholas morphing into Santa Claus.

Okay … so my eight-year-old is on the verge of twigging to the Santa gag, and even though I’m hoping he gets this one more year of the fantasy the writing is on the wall. He’s a smart, curious kid who loves to learn and wants to know stuff, and in the long run all that is a good thing.

I can’t help, however, but be amazed at the huge number of people who never get further than the fairy tales.

A new Gallup poll, released Dec. 17, reveals that 40 percent of Americans still believe that humans were created by God within the last 10,000 years.

Yeah … I could have gone with the whole Holy Night tale, but although it is almost Christmas other angles came across my reindeer radar today, and the idea that only 16% of Americans buy the idea of evolution without divine guidance feels to me like a call for intervention.

Don’t get me wrong — I like Christmas music as much as the next indoctrinated American-raised harker of Harold the singing angel, and the idea of Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men (and women and children) is worth propagating. It does rather piss me off when the concept is hijacked once a year by peeps whose agenda is suspect and divisive.

When high on said agenda is keeping people stupid … well … even more reason to bah and humbug, and trotting out Eden as fact while science is swept up with the torn wrapping paper is doing exactly that.

The poll also revealed that beliefs in creationism and evolution are strongly related to levels of education attained. When results are narrowed to those with college degrees, only 37 percent of respondents maintain beliefs in creationism. Meanwhile, the belief in evolution without the aid of God rises to 21 percent.

Those numbers are still appalling, but do give some hope that education has some force against ignorance.

Lest anyone think I’m picking on Christians to put the Christ in Christmas, another story in today’s news made the same point, but in a bit more gruesome a manner. Titled “Koran Written In Saddam Hussein’s Blood Poses Problem For Iraqi Leaders”, it could be considered another candle on the holly branch …

The unique Koran’s creation took over two years:

It was etched in the blood of a dictator in a ghoulish bid for piety. Over the course of two painstaking years in the late 1990s, Saddam Hussein had sat regularly with a nurse and an Islamic calligrapher; the former drawing 27 litres of his blood and the latter using it as a macabre ink to transcribe a Qur’an. But since the fall of Baghdad, almost eight years ago, it has stayed largely out of sight – locked away behind three vaulted doors. It is the one part of the ousted tyrant’s legacy that Iraq has simply not known what to do with.

Slate notes that Saddam was never one for subtlety, and that this undertaking would serve propaganda purposes for when the dictator need to be seen as pious; he “decided to show the world that he was willing to literally sacrifice his blood for the sake of his religion.”

His blood. Nice. What a sacrifice, heh?

And to think Santa would have just left a lump of coal in his stocking and called it a day while assuming he’d made the point that genocide goes on the naughty list. Of course, if Santa was the issue, Saddam would have grown out if it by the time he was 10 or 12 … or 30.

So, why is it okay … normal, reasonable … to mature beyond the dude-in-red flying down from the North Pole, but Adam and Eve and Mohammed once ingested are to last a lifetime? Why is A Visit from St. Nicholas considered light verse, but the second chapter of Luke gospel? (Okay, bad choice of words, but you get my drift.)

But really, does this …

And Mama in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap —
When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters, and threw up the sash.
The moon on the breast of the new fallen snow,
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below;
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny rein-deer,
With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.

… make any less sense than this …

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were
sore afraid.

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

… ?

Sure, the first quote rhymes and only has a couple of songs to go with, but more importantly it wasn’t shouted from pulpits in our direction, and I can’t help thinking that’s one big diff. That and the fact that Santa has little political clout and other than marketing not much economical sway, either.

As I said in my earlier post, I don’t see Santa as a dangerous illusion fostered by parents, but a bit of magic meant to stir imagination. The other stuff could be the same, but folks don’t seem to outgrow that shit.

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18 Responses

Santa is fun and you already know it comes from a Christian tradition of St. Nicholas that morphed into something all together different. But the second is about hope and belief in something other then ourselves. Personally it give me hope. You know that I believe in evolution but I also believe in God. After what happened to me in Milan I can never change that as it was as real as breathing. I just don’t understand the argument that “Things” are not big enough for both to exist.

And although Santa is just for children………please do not try and tell me that Frosty the Snowman is NOT real cause that’s where I draw the line.

and you touch on a touchy subject. of course you are right. the propensity for adults to continue to believe in “stuff” like this has been the subject of years of fascination for me.

At first i was angry – because i have spend many years in matters of faith and for a while i regarded it as “wasted”. But then I asked the question – why? and for years now I have thought that there must be a biological component. no amount of sociology and psychiatry could explain the single minded, blind and often stupid commitment to religion!

Have a look at God helmet that Michael Persinger is working with. Its controversial, but we are understanding more and more that behind religious experiences are not gods and angels, but biology, synapses and neural transmitters.

The legacy of religion has been devastating! But I wonder, how can we take concepts of faith and apply it to concepts of branding in consumer marketing? OMG, I have MANY examples of how the same “forces” (i.e. biology) drives consumer behavior!

Hm …
Actually, I woke up about 3 hours ago and read this comment on my BlackBerry, then went back to sleep, but have been thinking about it ever since. Truth is, I have to disagree with your take. Although there are many biological imperatives, my experience tells me that this is not one.

I had religion trust upon me at infancy, yet NEVER bought it. Although I learned the words and was taught to clasp my little hands together … and, for a while, put on a show of fervency … nothing ever struck me as anything more than a show and a method of control I railed against. When my children came along, I resisted all efforts to begin any indoctrination with them and my grown kids developed no inclination to fill the “gap” and managed to move from Santa to secularism smoothly. I’m fairly sure Sam and Cj will be the same.

Some are more inclined by nature to be subject to marketing off all sorts, religion included, possibly from a lack of self-confidence, but that seems to have more roots in childhood than biology. If kids are taught early in life to enjoy wonder, to be curious, to accept that not everything can be known, they grow marvelously wondering. If they have dogma shoved down their throats, if it is insisted they don’t question, but believe, if black-and-white is laid before them as the only option on the palate, the wondering part of them may be underdeveloped and either never fully bloom, or bloom later than it could have.

My feeling has long been that we are more than our biology, that consciousness is energy and our physical form restricts access to all we are. Religion restricts even further, as it was meant to since power and politics have always been the motivation for structuring and controlling ‘beliefs’. Many feel a mandate to reach for answers, and that sleight-of-hand that pulls a rabbit out of the hat often keeps folks from looking more deeply into the hat.

Religion is also a habit, and one hard to break when firmly entrenched. Even I feel stirring when, as happened last night, I hear a decent rendition of “Oh, Holy Night” sung, even while continuing to be annoyed by the line, “Fall on your knees!”, and fully aware of the manipulation in progress. Sure, there are synaptic events going on, but they wouldn’t be had I not been forced to drink that particular brand of Kool-Aid as a child.

As for your feeling of ‘wasted time’ … perhaps it was. But that’s how it is, and there’s no changing it. What matters now is what happens now and you seem to be doing well, although still perhaps spending more of your energy dealing with what may still be conflicted than may be worthy. That is another thing about religion … it’s designed to keep a hold no matter what, and the amount of time and energy spent on reasonable justification for jettisoning the unreasonable is burdensome.

A bit like sugar stimulates pleasant brain activity, religion can do the same, but a person exposed to high doses of sugar in childhood has a much harder time cutting it out of an adult diet than one who had only the small amounts that come naturally through fruit and milk. Yes, there is a biological connection, but it’s not the cart pulling the horse.

I enjoyed the post and this particular response. I’ve long felt that religion of any kind fills a void between what we understand and what we need to understand. If that gap is large, religion can play a large role in helping us feel secure in our world. If we are raised with a self confidence that removes the need to understand, but instills an enjoyment for the pursuit of understanding, the role of religion as a means of security becomes less prominent. My instincts are that religious belief likely has greater correlation to a fear of the unknown than to level of education.

A memory from high school that has always stuck with me — born-again friend asks atheist friend, “If you don’t believe in God, what keeps you from going out and killing people?” Personally, I think I’m just fine with born-again friend retaining their belief in God.

I’m with you on the potentially homicidal born-again, Rick, but worry a great deal about those who think their god gives them a mandate to go out and kill people. That seems to have happened fairly often throughout history. The us/them hook can fill that void in some dangerous ways.

I’m sure Santa is real. I’m also pretty sure he was real when I was little but that was a long time ago and my neuron may not be recalling it all correctly now.

It’s all about the spirit and the magic of the time/season. I don’t give a rats as-I mean- I don’t care if the whole thing grew out of some Christian religious tradition. If Santa is what you need for motivation to be a ‘good’ human for at least the few weeks before Christmas then who cares. At least you were a good person for a few weeks.

As you pointed out, it’s all about the imagination and magic. Some of my favorite Santa stories are borne of screen writiers imagination and free tweeking. C’mon, who can’t root for Xena and Gabrielle fighting to save ‘Sinta Cleese’ from the evil king who won’t allow him to give toys to the kids.

And don’t forget, when you put out a plate of cookies and a glass of milk for Santa and it’s gone in the morning and you have a dog, it’s probably a good bet that it was Santa.

Another favorite Santa–Art Carney’s in a Twilight Zone episode. His only wish, after being fired from his department store Santa job for bing drunk, is to give the kids toys and see their faces light up. One of my all time favorite TZ stories. A timeless story.

and of course i agree. someone tried to give me the ‘benefits’ of religion and i responded by saying. . . yes, there were “benefits” from WWII, but dont try and discuss these with a Holocaust survivor. i agree. . .

and you make two important points.

lets take something as simple as our ability to perceive “self” and “others”. to think in the 3rd person. we are identifying the parts of the brain that allows us to do this and to have a concision. the “inner voice”. we are starting to past it together. biology gives us the “inner voice”. Nothing mystical or god-like.

what we transmit to our kids is a culture. and as part of culture is how we see work. or how we produce output 9even christianity offers their view as a way to heaven – i.e. output).

for a long time i have seen work as a metaphysical concepts that exists primarily in the mind of humans and not something dictated to us by nature.

the broad concepts of work is that we can basically have either a central command and control system regulating our work (to produce output) or we can have a decentralized command and control model.

Fundamentally, religion carries a centralized view of command and control. But nature, in every aspect shows us that this is NOT how living systems work. it is a complex system of decentralized smaller, dynamic systems.

and so, nature started showing me that every aspect of life demands that we adopt a decentralized view of work. and then i realised that these are NOT metaphysical concepts, but ideas grounded in nature.

my own view is that the implications of the statement of “no religion”, no centralized command and control has not begun to hit us. but, to fully understand how it will re-shape our institutions (and I mean every single institution), we have to comprehend where religion comes from.

there is biology that allows us religious thoughts. there are powerful feedback loops from our culture that feeds back into these natural abilities and back into our culture again. BUT, its not a closed system. Our culture is influenced by our environment and as we learn more about our environment, so we change our culture.

and the more we understand the “better” system, the more we create our new culture and there will be a time when these stories will be relegated to forgotten past.

ok, NOW the question is HOW do we build culture. how do we package these things in ways that the general public can access it easily. digest it. accept it and make it part of its culture?

what I do (and I am not saying its the right or the best way) is to coat it in the language of mythology. i do it because it is fun. I speak about decentralized command and control systems in the language of gods and ghosts, daemons and anti-daemons. I describe the wars i fight today in creating a new way of doing business in epic terms of the war of the world. of galaxies and star systems being born and being swooped out of existence.

and the same biology that attracts many people to read the bible, attracts some people to read my stories; and culture and other stuff.

is this helping them to think for themselves or just another indoctrination? I dont know. . . all i know is that im having LOTS of fun! :-))